Two Roads Diverged in a Wood
by Hickster55
Summary: A FireRed Storylocke.
1. Prologue

Prologue

The sun had just begun to rise as the rooftops of Pallet Town came into site over the horizon. The sun cast its rays over the choppy ocean water, causing it to sparkle as if someone had strewn diamonds across its surface. As the ship bobbed up and down in the waves, a young man, no more than 19 or 20, leaned forward onto the ship's cold railing, taking in the sight of the approaching land. A cool breeze was blowing, but he didn't notice. It wasn't until the ship was almost into the harbor that the other passengers began to stir and make their way onto the deck, where their cheerful chatter brought the man back to reality. He took the appearance of the others as his cue to leave, and made his way back below deck without saying a word.

They had wondered about him during the whole trip. His quiet demeanor was accented by what seemed to be a deep sadness. His defining feature, however, was his eyes. They were a dark brown and were extremely piercing, but this was not what fascinated the other passengers. A fire burned in those eyes, the likes of which most have never seen before. Those who had knew that he was clearly very determined to do _something_, but what exactly it was would have to remain a mystery, as no one had dared to try and talk to him, and he had kept to himself for the entirety of the journey which was now drawing to a close. As the passengers disembarked, they saw the quiet man walk off alone towards the town. There was no one waiting on the dock to greet him, no one to give him a hug, to tell him they'd missed him, to offer to take his bags. All he had was his red pack, which he had slung over his shoulder, and the clothes on his back. He walked with determination, however, and quickly vanished into the crowds of people making their way to work.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Carson

The Pallet Town branch of the Kanto Pokémon League Licensing Center was always a busy place, full of people of all ages, and this morning was no different. Mothers ushered in their small children, perhaps to register them to keep their first Pokémon. Teenagers waited in line to get their pictures taken for their trainer licenses so they could participate in league sanctioned battles and ultimately challenge the local gyms. Trainers of all ages constantly came in to renew their licenses before continuing their training. Amid all the hustle and bustle, the fiery eyed man entered, unnoticed, and made his way towards the counter, where a pretty young woman stood, staring intently at a computer screen. The man cleared his throat and she jumped.

"I'm sorry sir, I didn't see you there" she said quickly, straightening up and brushing her blonde hair away from her face, "How can I help you today?"

"I'm here to register for a trainer's license" the man responded, looking at her intently. "This is the right place, I hope?"

"Uh…yes sir, it is" she stuttered. The man was handsome, yes, but what struck her and made her stumble over her words were his eyes, which were staring deeply into her's. "I can get you signed up right now" she said, and tapped the computer screen next to her. "Name please."

"Carson" he replied. She tapped at the screen a bit more.

"Carson what?" she asked, lifting her head.

"It's my last name. I'm Steve. Steve Carson."

"Middle name?"

"It's…I don't have one. No middle name, sorry." He said quickly, breaking eye contact with her.

"That's fine." There was a pause as she entered more into the computer. "We don't seem to have you in the system, Mr. Carson."

"Just Carson."

"Right. You don't seem to be in our system. Are you a resident of Kanto?"

"No, Miss…"

"Moss, but you can call me Shelly."

"Got it. No, Shelly, I'm originally from Hoenn" he responded, meeting her eyes again.

"I thought I heard an accent in there" she said with a smile. "My mother's family is from Lilycove. Do you live near there?"

"Ah...no, I'm from Lavaridge. You know, with the hot springs." Her questions seemed to be bothering him, as he again broke eye contact with her. She failed to notice, however.

"Oh right, I've always wanted to visit. They say the water is great for your skin. Didn't they get a new Gym Leader there recently? Flannery or something?"

"Yeah…" he said, looking at his feet.

"She's pretty young, I hear. What happened to the old one?" she asked him.

"I uh…I don't really know. Sorry. And it's not unheard of for someone that young to become a leader in Hoenn. Speaking of Hoenn, will my residence there be a problem for getting my license here…?" he said, changing the subject back to what he had come there for.

"Oh no, not at all. We take trainers from all over. Your card will just have a different color background to show that you're not a resident. A Kanto resident's card is blue, and yours will be red."

"That sounds great" he responded, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Are you registered as a trainer in Hoenn?" she asked him. "If you have your card with you it will make this process much quicker. I can just merge your profiles and print your card out for you right away."

"I'm…" he paused, "No, I'm not registered in Hoenn."

"So," she said, "A first time trainer. Ok, let's get started." She looked him up and down to observe his features. He was had shaggy black hair and slight scruff on a relatively handsome face. He wore black jeans and a black t-shirt, over which was a red, form-fitting leather jacket that was accented with black. The collar was stiff and stood upright, reminiscent of a boathouse jacket. "Hair: black. How tall are you? And your weight?"

"Five foot eleven" he responded, "and around 180 pounds." She entered the information into the computer.

"Date of birth?"

"October 25th, 1992."

"You're a lot older than most of the first time trainers we get in here. Any reason for deciding to start in Kanto as opposed to Hoenn?" she asked.

"No reason, really" he said, again looking at the ground. "I just heard that, you know, Kanto had the first official Pokémon league, so I figured I'd start here. Seemed…right."

"Well, I'm definitely biased but, I'd say you made a good choice" she responded with a smile. "Alright, well, you're all registered. After we take your picture I can print your card and you can be on your way." Carson walked over to the line for the camera, and after having his picture taken, returned to the woman behind the counter. She tapped the computer screen and a large printer behind her whirred to life. It quickly printed out a laminated card, which she then handed to him. "Here you go, Carson. You're officially a registered trainer in the Kanto Pokémon League. Good luck. I hope to see you around here again sometime" she said, smiling at him again. He gave her a weak smile back and left the building. As soon as the door had closed behind him, Shelly picked up the phone and dialed quickly.

"Sir, it's Moss. Steve Carson just came through the Licensing Center. He must have decided to come to Kanto. Anyway, I did what you said and registered him." She paused and listened carefully to what was being said on the other side of the line. "Yes sir, of course. I'll make sure to keep an eye on him."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Start

Carson walked a few blocks across town to the PokéMart, where he intended to get some pokéballs and maybe some potions. Once he had the balls he could go about catching a Pokémon and starting his training. Maybe a Pidgey, or whatever it was that was native to this area. He'd have to find something weak enough to catch without a Pokémon of his own, but he wasn't too worried. He knew what he was doing. As he was about to enter the store, he saw a poster on the door, advertising a job for trainers that involved cataloguing as many Pokémon species as possible. The poster had direction to a lab on the edge of town, where one was to inquire after a "Professor Oak." He decided to ignore the ad, however. He had something he wanted to accomplish, and it didn't involve running errands for some old man in a lab.

"I need to buy some pokéballs" Carson said, approaching the counter.

"Pokéballs? We're fresh out, sorry" said the shopkeeper. "You'll have to head up to our branch in Viridian City."

"Really? There are no other stores in town that sell pokéballs?" Carson was becoming visibly annoyed.

"I'm sorry sir, Pallet Town isn't very big, and we're the only store here licensed by the League to sell Pokémon equipment. We don't get another shipment until the end of the week, so until then we're out of pokéballs. I'm sorry."

With that, Carson left the store and made for the edge of town. He didn't want to waste any time, so he figured he'd head straight to Viridian and pick up some balls. It was almost noon when he reached the edge of town, and he paused to check a map he'd picked up at the police station on the way over. He had to head due north to make it to Viridian. Easy enough, he thought. He began to walk along the dirt path, making sure to stay out of the tall grass lining it. He had walked for around ten minutes when he heard someone shouting for help.

"Great" Carson said out loud. "Some idiot is getting himself attacked. This is definitely going to end well." With that, he waded into the tall grass towards the sound of the shouting. He reached an area of shorter grass and saw an old man in a white lab coat cowering under a tree. He was being attacked viciously by a Pidgey. It was dive-bombing him repeatedly and clawing at his arms and hands. Carson looked around and saw a large branch on the ground, which he grabbed.

"Hey! Get the hell away from him!" Carson shouted. He swung the branch like a baseball bat, connecting with the Pidgey as it made another attack. It crashed into the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust into the air. Carson advanced on it, placing himself between the old man and the Pokémon, brandishing his branch. The Pidgey fled, however, flying away as rapidly as it could towards a thicket of trees.

"Thank you so much, young man" said the old man awkwardly as Carson helped him up. "It's been a while since I've done any field work myself, and now I'm remembering why I started sending other people to do it in the first place" he chuckled.

"You're bleeding" Carson said.

"I'll be quite alright. That was a brave thing you did there. Though you look like a trainer to me, why didn't you use a Pokémon?"

"I don't have any" Carson replied. "I was just heading to Viridian City to buy some balls and to catch some."

"Oh don't worry about that, I think I know exactly how I'm going to repay you kind deed. Please, accompany me back to my lab."

"Look, I don't even know you and I have things to do…" Carson began.

"Oh nonsense, you can spare some time, I'm sure. My name is Professor Samuel Oak, by the way. What's yours?"

"I'm Carson. Steve Carson. Are you that professor who put up posters in town?"

"Yes that's me, but more about that later. Please, come with me."

Seeing that the old man wasn't going to take no for an answer, Carson decided to accompany him back to his lab. It sat on the edge of town, a nondescript, white, two story building. Inside was what appeared to be lots of high tech equipment. Oak led him into a room at the back of lab. Once inside, he entered a password into a keyboard on the wall, and a safe in the wall opened up with a hiss. Inside were three pokéballs.

"I want you to have one of these" Oak said to him, indicating the pokéballs in the safe. "One is a grass type, Bulbasaur. Another is a water type, Squirtle. The last is a fire type, Charmander. Please, take any one you want." Carson made immediately for the third ball, and picked it up. It felt right in his hand.

"Charmander, eh?" said a voice from the door. Carson turned slowly to see a man in the door, roughly his age, maybe a year or two older. The man had long, brown hair that stood spiked up on the top of his head. He wore blue jeans and a gray, V-neck t-shirt. Carson could make out what looked like dog tags on a chain around his neck.

"Ah, this is my grandson, Gary Oak" said the Professor. He looked down at his feet as he said so, and began toying with one of the buttons on his lab coat. Something was making him nervous, but Carson couldn't be sure what it was. Was he scared of his grandson? Gary sure looked intimidating enough. He was leaning casually against the door frame with his hands in his pockets, looking Carson up and down with his blue eyes. He had a definite air of cockiness about him.

"Who's your guest, Gramps?" Gary asked, turning his attention to Oak, "and why are you giving him one of your new Pokémon? I thought I was getting them."

"This is Steve Carson. He, uh, helped me outside of town. I was being attacked by a Pidgey. A vicious thing. It drew blood." He lifted up his hands, showing Gary the dried blood on the backs of them. "He's a new trainer and doesn't have any Pokémon of his own, so I'm repaying him for his kindness." Gary smirked.

"Aren't you a little old to be just getting your first Pokémon?" Gary asked.

"Aren't you?" replied Carson. Gary made his way into the room, taking his hands out of his pockets.

"Who said it's my first?" Gary replied, meeting Carson's eyes. He turned to Oak. "Anyway, you're giving me the Pokémon today that you promised me, right?"

"Uh, yes, yes of course. Just one though. Take your pick. I just hope you didn't want the Charmander" Oak said with a nervous laugh.

"It'll be Squirtle for me" Gary said, picking up the second pokéball and turning to flash an infuriating smile at Carson. "How about a quick battle? See what these little guys have in them."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Not My First Rodeo

Gary casually dropped the ball he was holding to the ground, where it burst open, releasing a flash of red light than materialized into a Squirtle. Carson followed suit, throwing his pokéball to the ground in front of him. A Charmander emerged, and as it faced its opponent the flame on its tail flared up. It was a natural fighter, he thought. Good, he could use that. Before Gary could take action, Carson yelled a command.

"Charmander, Scratch, now!" The Charmander sprinted forward, lifting up its arm and bringing it down with as much force as it could muster. Its claws raked across the Squirtle's face, knocking it to the ground with the force of the blow and splattering blood across the tiled floor. Gary reacted quickly.

"Squirtle, quick, Tackle!" It sprang to its feet remarkably quickly and rammed into Carson's Charmander with its shoulder lowered. Charmander fell backwards but recovered quickly. The Squirtle had made serious contact, but it only appeared to anger the Charmander. Without waiting for a command, it counter-attacked, raking its claws down the Squirtle's face three times before it could no longer stand.

"Enough!" Gary yelled as the Squirtle collapsed. "Return." He held out the Squirtle's pokéball, which shot a red light into the Pokémon on his command, dematerializing it and sucking it back into the ball. Carson did the same, withdrawing his Charmander. He said nothing, instead just looking at Gary.

"Quit staring at me like that, it's freaking me out" Gary said. "You know what, screw this, I'm leaving. Later Gramps." He made for the door, hitting Carson's shoulder with his as he left the room.

Carson looked up to see Oak, white-faced, leaning against a desk. "Sorry about that, Professor. Look, thanks for the Pokémon and all, but, I should go. I've got stuff to do."

"Wait, one second, I have one more thing for you" Oak stammered, turning to pull something from a drawer in the desk. "It's a Pokédex. It catalogues all the Pokémon that you see and catch. It's what the posters in town are about. I'm looking for trainers to fill them and then send me the data so I can examine it. If you're going to take on the League challenges, as I assume you are, I'd like you to take it with you. As an added bonus, it's one of the new models, so it has new software on it that can translate what your Pokémon are saying so that you can understand it."

Oak pulled something else out of the drawer. "Just wear this earpiece, and the 'dex will transmit the translation to it, so you can hear what the Pokémon are saying." Oak handed him the Pokédex and the earpiece, which Carson immediately put in. "I want you to have these, too" said Oak, scrounging through the large pockets of his lab coat and pulling out five pokéballs and handing them to Carson. "You know, to get you started."

"Thanks Professor, I'll see you around" said Carson, turning and heading out the door. Once he got outside, he released his Charmander from its ball, and crouched down to its level. He was interested to see how this software worked. He'd never seen anything like it in Hoenn. "My name's Steve Carson, I'm your new trainer. You're gonna need a name, aren't you?" he asked the Charmander. "How does Red sound?"

"I like it" said the Pokémon, wrapping its tail around itself. Carson couldn't help but starting a bit, even though he knew what was coming. He'd never actually heard a Pokémon talk before. "That was a fun fight back there. Are we going to get to do more of those?" Red said, looking up at him.

"You're damn straight we are" Carson replied, "A whole lot more. One thing though, when we're in battle you have to listen to what I say. None of that 'doing your own thing' crap, is that clear? Don't be afraid to react, but in the end, your job is to hone yourself physically, and mine is to hone myself mentally, to think of strategies and to work with you to execute them. If you trust me, we'll do just fine. In fact, I think we'll make one hell of a team. Sound good?" Red looked Carson directly in the eyes. There was a long pause.

"Yeah, I can do that. You definitely sounded like you knew what you were doing. You sure you're a rookie trainer?"

"Well" Carson said, standing up, "I guess you could say this isn't my first rodeo."

"What the hell does that mean?" Red asked with a chuckle. "Who even says that?"

"I do" Carson said, allowing himself a smile.

"You wanna fill me in?" Red asked. "Remember, you were the one just talking about trust."

"I will, I promise. Just not right now. Right now, we need to grow our team and do some training. I'll tell you what, once we get our first badge, I'll tell you whatever you want to know. Deal?"

"Deal," Red said.

"My map says there's a gym in the next nearest town, just north of here. Let's head there and see what the deal is." Carson said to Red, who sped off eagerly down the street.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Red yelled over his shoulder. "We've got a badge to win." Carson headed off after Red, smiling again. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.


End file.
